(1) The following components shall be developed and incorporated in the RTP:

(a) An inventory of existing regional transportation facilities and services, including physical, operational, and usage characteristics of the regional transportation system;

(b) An evaluation of current facilities and services, comparing current usage, and operational characteristics to level of service standards, and identification of regional transportation needs;

(c) Forecasts of future travel demand, based on the regional transportation strategy and local comprehensive plans;

(d) Identification of future regional transportation system deficiencies, comparing future travel needs for movement of people and goods to available facilities and services; and

(e) Coordinated common regional assumptions (growth, population, employment, mode split, etc.,) among local jurisdictions for the development of all transportation models to ensure consistency within the RTPO, and:

(i) These common regional assumptions shall recognize the planning requirements of the state's Growth Management Act, and;

(ii) Be consistent with population forecasts prepared by the office of financial management.

(2) Performance monitoring. An integral part of the regional transportation plan is monitoring the performance of the regional transportation system over time. This information is necessary to determine the success of plan implementation and the effect of the desired improvements on the performance of the regional transportation system. Each RTPO shall describe their performance monitoring system in the regional transportation plan. The performance monitoring measures shall include traffic volumes and vehicle miles of travel (VMT) at a minimum and can include, but are not limited to, travel time, speed, safety standards and other measures. Performance monitoring measures should be coordinated and measurable on a consistent basis throughout the RTPO.

(3) Regional development patterns and investments. The regional transportation plan shall include a general assessment of regional development patterns and investments. This analysis is intended to provide direction and background information for updates of the regional transportation plan. The RTP updates shall be based upon a general retrospective discussion of current land use and transportation patterns and their relationship to the region's goals and objectives and elsewhere in the regional transportation plan. Current and projected development patterns and the expected magnitudes and time frame in which these developments are expected to occur should be reviewed and evaluated against the regional growth and transportation strategies. If the regional growth and transportation strategies have changed or current and projected development can be shown to be inconsistent, the plan should be updated to reflect these changes, or development policies should be updated to assure consistency and continuity of transportation and land use issues within the region. The region’s interrelationships between growth and transportation should be discussed along with strategies such as access control, development of heritage corridors, and other measures designed to maintain current and proposed development patterns consistent with the regional transportation plan and the transportation and land use elements of local comprehensive plans.